Because of the time difference, day two of the Partner Summit has already wrapped up! The day was rich in discussion.

The focus of the day was peer learning and exchange, and each of our partners presented unique aspects of their programs that might be areas of learning for one another. We were excited to see the deep interest our partners expressed in the diverse contexts in which the others are working and how they may be able to tailor their HIV and WASH programs to effectively serve their communities.

Partner presentations highlighted the work being done through Blood: Water grants, and particularly unique aspects of each program. Presentations covered:

• The ACT Project (Ethiopia): “Holistic HIV Care Through Community-Based Client Management”
• Seeds of Hope International Partnerships (Zambia): “iWASH: A Model for Integrated Health at Household Level”
• FH Kenya: “Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) as a Model for Successful Change in Communities”
• Lwala Community Alliance (Kenya): “Applying Quality Improvement Strategies to Scale Up Programs and Strengthen Staff Capacity”
• FH Uganda: “Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) for Sustainable Support to Vulnerable Groups”
• MOUCECORE (Rwanda): “Transformational Development and Reconciliation Through Hygiene Programming”

Our partners and Africa Partnerships team ended the day with an enriched understanding of the different ways we can serve people in communities that are burdened by HIV/AIDS and a lack of clean water.

In order to create lasting change, it is critical to tailor each program to the specific community, taking culture, context, and needs into consideration, as well as the ability to leverage existing community structures and local government.